Surviving Troubled Times: Five Best Practices for Training Professionals

With the current economic downturn and signs of an emerging recovery, executives are trying to determine how to best use their organizations' funds and resources. This may mean downsizing human resource departments and eliminating positions for training personnel. The authors offer five strategies drawn from the professional literature to survive these and future trying times: (1) align efforts with organizational missions and business goals, (2) use training only when it addresses a gap between existing and desired performance arising from a lack of requisite skill, (3) craft instructional objectives that describe exemplary job performance, (4) create sound training programs that promote learning and transfer to the job, and (5) collaborate with sponsors and other stakeholders outside the training department to promote transfer of training to the job. Training personnel who employ these strategies successfully may be able to answer executives' common question, "What have you done for me recently that matters?"